Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 46
For the music leader. Of the Korahites. According to Alamoth.[a] A song.
46 God is our refuge and strength,
a help always near in times of great trouble.
2 That’s why we won’t be afraid when the world falls apart,
when the mountains crumble into the center of the sea,
3 when its waters roar and rage,
when the mountains shake because of its surging waves. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams gladden God’s city,
the holiest dwelling of the Most High.
5 God is in that city. It will never crumble.
God will help it when morning dawns.
6 Nations roar; kingdoms crumble.
God utters his voice; the earth melts.
7 The Lord of heavenly forces is with us!
The God of Jacob is our place of safety. Selah
8 Come, see the Lord’s deeds,
what devastation he has imposed on the earth—
9 bringing wars to an end in every corner of the world,
breaking the bow and shattering the spear,
burning chariots with fire.
10 “That’s enough! Now know that I am God!
I am exalted among all nations; I am exalted throughout the world!”
11 The Lord of heavenly forces is with us!
The God of Jacob is our place of safety. Selah
18 Therefore, this is what the Lord says to Jehoiakim son of Judah’s King Josiah:
They won’t grieve for him, saying, “My brother, my sister!”
They won’t grieve for him, saying, “My master, my majesty!”
19 They will give him a donkey’s burial,
dragging him outside the gates of Jerusalem
and dumping him there.
20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out,
lift up your voice in Bashan,
cry out from Abarim,
because all your lovers have been ravished.
21 I spoke to you when you felt safe and secure,
but you said, “I won’t listen.”
You have been that way since your youth:
not listening to a word I say.
22 Your shepherds will be tossed to the wind,
your lovers taken off to exile.
Then you will be embarrassed and humiliated
by all your wickedness.
23 You who live in Lebanon,
nestled in cedar,
who will pity you[a]
when you are overcome in pain,
like that of childbirth?
24 As surely as I live, declares the Lord, even if Coniah,[b] King Jehoiakim’s son from Judah were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still remove you from there. 25 I would hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you dread, even Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and his army.[c] 26 I will banish you and your mother who bore you to a land far from your native soil, and there the two of you will die. 27 You[d] will never return to the land you[e] long to go back to.
28 Is this man Coniah
merely a defiled and broken pottery jar
that no one wants?
Why then have he and his children been hurled out
and cast into an unfamiliar land?
29 Land, land, land,
hear the Lord’s word:
30 The Lord proclaims:
Mark this man as childless;
he will not prosper during his lifetime.
None of his children
will sit on David’s throne
and rule again in Judah.
Jesus blesses children
15 People were bringing babies to Jesus so that he would bless them. When the disciples saw this, they scolded them. 16 Then Jesus called them to him and said, “Allow the children to come to me. Don’t forbid them, because God’s kingdom belongs to people like these children. 17 I assure you that whoever doesn’t welcome God’s kingdom like a child will never enter it.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible